while you’re settling down: write down a moment you remember from a videogame that resonated with...

While you’re settling down:

Write down a moment you remember from a videogame that resonated with you through

its story.

“Story is expressed through gameplay. Gameplay is an expression of story. As

soon as we’re saying one is more important than the other than we are kind

of saying they’re not one and the same and we’re going to end up detrimentally affecting the quality of our product one

way or the other.”

T. Jubert, personal commentary, 3 April 2012

Game writing and narrative design

The discovery of a new medium

Hi! I’m Robby Clerebout!

Who is this guy?

Games

Storytelling

Education

My dream

job

Previously…

A look at what makes game writing unique A theoretical view at the persuasive power

of video games The results of my research divided into:

◦ Position of the game writer◦ Narrative techniques◦ Formatting

Some exercises!

On the agenda

Double Dragon is the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, twin brothers who learned to fight on the cold, tough streets of the city. Their expert knowledge of the martial arts, combined with their street-smarts, has made them both formidable fighting machines. But now Billy is faced with his greatest challenge: his girlfriend, Marian, has been kidnapped by the Black Warriors, the savage street gang of the mysterious Shadow Boss! Using whatever weapons come to hand – knives, whips, bats, rocks, oil drums, even dynamite- Billy must pursue the gang, through the slums, factories, and wooded outskirts of the city to reach the hideout for his final confrontation with the Shadow Boss ... his brother Jimmy!

Quiz!

Evolving relationship No standardized field Only now developing a body of work able to

reflect on

-> The narrative language of games is still very much in a state of flux!

What makes game writing unique?

Narrative devices have a different degree of player participation (depends on genre as well)◦ Interactive movie (Ex.: Dragon’s lair)◦ Abstract game (Ex.: Tetris)

Marriage between the two:◦ Story content being told through gameplay (Ex.: God of

war, hug sequence with wife)◦ Gameplay gets situated through narrative context (Ex.:

Puzzle Quest, Star Wars MMORPG respawn example)

Unique challenges in translating known techniques◦ Ex.: Forced failure,…

What makes game writing unique?

Three incentives to use narrative content:

Why use a story?(Why wouldn’t you?)

Immersion

Identification

Motivation

Tenuous relation between narrative and gameplay

Narratology◦ Literary tools to analyze books and films◦ Representation

Ludology = the study of games◦ Gameplay as videogames’ defining characteristic◦ Simulation◦ gamestudies.org

-> Common ground has already been explored

Why use a story?

Procedural rhetoric: “the practice of using (computation) processes persuasively“

Rules based representations and interactions◦ Ex.: Fifa or Spore

Mainly applicable next to serious games but also for blockbuster AAA-titles (Ex.: Bully, …)

Persuasive games (Ian Bogost)

McDonald’s Video Game

Persuasive games (Ian Bogost)

Take the example you wrote down and think of the following:

Did the moment stay with you because of the story of because of the way it was experienced by you through its gameplay? Would it have worked as well if it was a movie?

!Mini-break!

My research:◦ Practice of game writing◦ Available literature◦ Interviews with game writers (8): Steve Ince,

Richard Dansky, Wendy Despain, Chris Bateman,…◦ Written interviews from narrativedesign.org

Three main domains:◦ Position of the game writer◦ Narrative techniques◦ Formatting

Interlude

Historical evolution of videogames◦ Emphasis on programming◦ Bedroom programmers◦ No unified workflow◦ Gameplay goes first

-> Emergence of story-focused games (RPG) but not the exploration of a new medium to tell stories

Position of the game writer

“Where a screenwriter will often create a script and send it to film studios –

probably through an agent – there is no equivalent in game development. Game studios usually have more than enough

ideas of their own and initial concepts are typically the domain of the game designer

rather than the writer.”

S. Ince, Writing for video games, 2006: 8

Position of the game writer

Different functions◦ Producer◦ Lead designer◦ … You’ve seen this already …

On staff/Contract-> Influence on development cycle

Position of the game writer

“Emphasizing playtesting and prototyping, iterative design is a method in which

design decisions are made based on the experience of playing a game while it is in

development.”

Salen & Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, 2003: 128

Position of the game writer

A process of iteration

How do you as a writer develop your story in an environment that changes constantly? ◦ Quickly react to changing circumstances◦ Think modular◦ Build your story to break◦ Overachieve

Position of the game writer

From game writer to narrative designer:◦ Term coined by Mary Demarle◦ Mixed reactions◦ What do you guys think?

“I consider my role as a Narrative Designer to be two-fold: a) as a game designer specializing in how to integrate storytelling with gameplay; and b) as a writer who carries out that integration. By “storytelling”, I mean all aspects of storytelling, not solely text or dialog but the full spectrum of audiovisual storytelling.”

C. Marx, personal commentary, 12 February 2012

Position of the game writer

You’ve covered a lot of these in previous lessons

A lot of game writers state tabletop RPG’s as an important influence (mechanics)

Ideally the play of the game and the story are interlocking functions-> Keeping gameplay in the writing-> Using the tools the game provides

Play into the strengths of the medium◦ “Play, don’t show” -> PLAY IT, DISPLAY IT, SAY IT

Narrative techniques

Who played?

“I don’t view gameplay as separate from my work and vision. All of us working on the

game are working towards the player experience, which includes narrative and

gameplay and the whole kit and caboodle. All of the elements need to be integrated and tuned with one another to create the

optimal player experience.”

R. Dansky, personal commentary, 19 March 2012

Narrative techniques

Main goals of a game writer:◦ Understand possible interactions between the

player and the game and determine how these can be used to enhance the narrative experience

◦ Control the pacing◦ Decide on the narrative delivery:

Text Recorded dialogue Static images Camera cases (flyby) Cut-scenes (in-engine or FMV) Scripted events

Narrative techniques

Explaining how a certain puzzle works The first time the ultimate boss is revealed When you acquire a new weapon In the middle of a branching point, where

the player has to choose a path At the end of a level

Exercise time!

Choice

A lot of story content is created in the minds of the player◦ Ex: Dear Esther, Slender: The Eight Pages

High-level story Immediate-level story

◦ More personal◦ Needs to be reflected by the game’s narrative◦ Doesn’t matter if it affects the high-level story

Player Agency

Narrative triggering:◦ Location-based◦ Event-based◦ Time-based◦ NPC’s◦ Talk control◦ Multiple game events

◦ -> Narrative triggers are a vital part of the dialogue engine design

Player Agency

Different degrees, ties into personal preference and project necessity

How do you define an act? Which method do you use to structure your plot?◦ Progress structure: Linear / Continuous / Domain /

Contiguous◦ Episodic / Film style / Serial storytelling◦ From the standpoint of gameplay:

Training Pacing Reward

Story structure

Story structures◦ Traditional story structures are used as a template◦ Although there is seldom an Act 1

Narrative techniques

“If you take it down to a really simplistic level everything is going to have a beginning, a middle and end… Of course, there’re more interesting games out there, there are plenty of reasons why they should be ignoring those sort of traditional structures and branching off on their own.”

T. Jubert, personal commentary, 3 april 2012

“Having said that, the interactive nature of games often requires me to put less

emphasis on some aspects of the classical story structure than on others. They’re still

there in some form, but just because I needed to de-emphasize some elements and put more focus on others, doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned classical story structure all

together.”

Mary Demarle, personal commentary, 11 November 2011

Story structure

Dividing narrative structures:◦ Formal narrative◦ Implicit / emergent narrative◦ Interactive narrative◦ Interactive story

The holodeck: a goal to strive for?

Story structure

Merging story and game

Merging story and game

Merging story and game

Merging story and game

“Being guided by a story is a lot more fun than being guided by an arrow on the

screen. You are guiding the players to the next piece of fun and so if that is a piece of story, like a plot reveal or something, than

that's great. But it could also be a new puzzle or so, it could be gameplay.”

W. Despain, persoonlijke commentaar, 26 april 2012

Story structure

Assisting the player:◦ Story information / Gameplay information◦ This means talking to the player, communicating

necessary information in an interesting way◦ These can be intra-diëgetic or extra-diëgetic

-> both are useful in their own way◦ The spine of the game VS the golden path◦ Funneling / choke points / breadcrumbing

Story structure

• Only as good as your narrative• No lengthy conversations, Quentin Tarantino

would be a bad game writer!• 2 functions in a game:

Advancing the story Conveying information

• Don’t diminish the hero, make him pro-active• Alt’s…

Dialogue

Dialogue tree

Dialogue

Steve Ince:◦ The use of Boolean variables◦ Less visible for the player◦ One of several alternatives

Relying too much on film conventions◦ You are striving for a sense of immediacy◦ Ex.: Recap of a football match

Dialogue

Formatting

Traditional script format◦ Uniform document◦ Standard lay-out

-> This has its advantages

As of yet there is no formatting standard in the video games industry

Formatting

Several problematic issues: The action isn’t set in stone The order of the scenes/levels may vary The dialogue isn’t necessarily received in the order

you want it to reach the player The same piece of dialogue is integrated in a

structure that a lot of people have ownership over

-> You have to account for a lot of variability!

Formatting

Spreadsheets!• Has the modularity needed for games• Easy to put in a database afterwards• Can contain a lot of material• Flexible filter function (per department)• You can portray story as well as technical

content: Sections: Character, Trigger, Cue,

Inflection, Location, Area, Level, Effect, File Name, Line Choice, ...

• But it has its downsides as well…

Formatting

Other solutions:◦ The makeshift method by using different tools for

different purposes◦ Proprietary tools

Formatting

“Formats vary radically. Sometimes it’s in-house tools. If you’re either an indie-developer who’s working on a small enough project to make their own tools or if you’re working on some big story-driven project with enough money to make their own tools then you do that.”

T. Jubert, personal commentary, 3 april 2012

Format of the future• Flexible enough to combine different documents• The content should be exportable to the game• Integrated in the production process and be

adaptable towards the different departments

Formatting

Game writing is still an evolving field◦ -> And you can play a crucial part in it!

Keep gameplay in the writing and leverage the player’s experience

Make sure the storytelling in your game motivates (keep the player engaged) and entertains (supporting gameplay and pacing) the player

Conclusion

Any questions?Hopefully not too difficult ones…

First one:◦ Think about something challenging you did in

your life◦ Try to make a gameplay sequence out of it where

you are the player character!◦ Which narrative delivery devices do you use to

convey the necessary story and gameplay information to convey the sequence to the player?

◦ Text - Recorded dialogue - Static images - Camera cases (flyby) - Cut-scenes (in-engine) - Scripted events - Cut Scenes (FMV)

Workshop time!

Second level:◦ Make groups of 4 people and talk about your

sequences◦ Discuss how you would affect the immediate-level

story for the player? ◦ Which kind of narrative triggering do you use?◦ Location-based - Time-based - NPC’s - Talk control

- Multiple game events

Workshop time!

The final boss:◦ Group discussion, presenting what you’ve

explored so far◦ We’ll focus on the bigger picture as well, how

would this fit within different narrative structures?

Workshop time!